A NEW HOME
A NEW HOME
Hello, my name is Simon. What? That won’t do? Why not? A formal introduction? Well, all right then. I’ll start again.
How do you do. My name is Willowmead Simply a Star and I was born in England on April 30th. I am two years old now.
Will that do?
Nobody calls me Simply a Star, of course. So, just call me Simon. I’m a bearded collie - you know, long coat, fringe over my eyes and a beard and moustache that keep getting in my food.
Well, as I was saying, I was born in England and I stayed with my Mum and Dad and brothers and sisters and a large family of cousins, aunts and uncles until I was two months old. All I did during that time was eat and sleep and play in a rough and tumble fashion. At first I didn’t realize it, but one by one my brothers and sisters began to disappear until finally I found that there was nobody to play with: I was the only one left. Then one day a man and two ladies came to visit. At the start I stayed in the kitchen with my Mum. Only the grown-up dogs were allowed into the sitting-room to visit, but finally I was carried in and I was cuddled by everybody. My Mum and and Dad and I had our photograph taken with them and then, before I could say “Jack Robinson” I was sitting in a car and we were driving away.
We spent the night in London in the house of one of the ladies (Her name is Heather). Just as well that I was used to finding my way through the feet of a load of dogs because she had three GIANT SCHNAUZERS. THREE of them:the mummy dog was called Dee-dee, and her two daughters. They were quite nice to me, actually, particularly Dee-dee, because she had had lots of puppies herself and knew all about looking after babies. Then there were two kittens. They had been born on one of the Hebridean islands of Scotland and had been brought down to London by plane when they were very tiny.
The following day we visited a friend’s office and went out for lunch. After that we went by car to Heathrow Airport. I had never seen so many people or heard so much noise in all my life. Little did I know that this would be the first of many visits to airports. You never know what life has in store for you, do you? Just as well, I suppose, because then we would only worry about it.
We waited in a long queue and when we got to the head of it my new family checked in their baggage. When they saw me,the people at the desk they said that I would have to go in the hold. My new Mum said,
“Not on your life, he’s coming in the cabin with us. You wouldn’t put a mite like this in the hold! “
I was weighed along with a box and then we had to pay my dues according to my weight. After that we went to passport control.
There was another long queue there and we had to wait again. My Mum was holding me in her arms and I was sound asleep. When we got to the gate a man in a uniform said,
“You can’t go through here with that dog out of its box. Put it in its box immediately”
I don’t know what it is about officials, particularly at airports and particularly in the immigration department, that they are always so nasty and officious. But they are, and I have plenty of experience of them, so I should know. Anyway, we got inside and as the time of the flight drew closer I had to be given my tranquilizer to make me sleep during the journey, so my Mum took me out of the box to give me the pill. No sooner had she taken me out and put me on her lap than another of these officious monsters swooped down again and told her that I could not be allowed out of my box until I reached my destination. Just as well my Mum is a match for any of these characters. She’s a pretty law-abiding citizen but nonsense really gets her Scottish goat. She soon put him in his place asking if he was in possession of some magical formula whereby medication could be administered through a plastic membrane. No easy answer to that one, is there? So we just carried on in our own common-sense way. Then I was put back in my box and by the time we had to go to the plane I was already fast asleep. I slept during most of the journey under the seat.
When we reached the other end I could get out of the box. I just carried on sleeping, however, so I didn’t see where we were going in the car. I only woke up when we reached the place where I realized I was going to stay. I met a little dog much my own size, called Paddy. I am much bigger than him now. Then I met four cats, a ginger one called Felix, two black and whites called Chaplin and Karpov, and a calico cat called Guadalulpe. Last but not least I met a big white billy-goat called Chivo. I had a little explore around the house and the terrace and patio and by that time it was time for dinner and I was ready for another sleep. You know puppies sleep a lot. So that was my first experience of travelling and little was I to know that I was going to be doing a fair amount of it again in the future.
posted by Mary @ 1:00 pm
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